Abstract
In recent years, the significant demand for sustainable paving materials has led to a rapid increase in the utilization of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials. When RAP is mixed with virgin asphalt concrete, particularly when its percentage is high, performance of the binder and asphalt concrete can be adversely affected. For this reason, different types of additives need to be identified and evaluated beforehand to mitigate the adverse effects. In this study, different types of fiber materials were identified and selected as binder/mixture additives, including lignin fiber (LF), polyester fiber (PF), and basalt fiber (BF). Various samples of fiber‐modified binders and asphalt mixtures with different RAP contents (0%, 20%, and 40%) were prepared and were evaluated using two sets of laboratory testing: (i) dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and bending beam rheometer (BBR) tests were performed to study the rheological properties of fiber‐modified binders; (ii) the wheel tracking test, bending creep test, moisture susceptibility test, fatigue test, and self‐healing fatigue test were conducted to characterize the laboratory properties of fiber‐modified RAP mixtures. Test results for the modified binders show that the BF‐modified binder has the greatest positive effect on the high‐temperature performance of the asphalt binder, followed by PF‐ and LF‐modified binders. However, the virgin asphalt shows the best low‐temperature property than the fiber‐modified asphalt binder. Test results for the whole RAP mixtures show that all fibers have a significant effect on the properties (including high‐ and low‐temperature stability, moisture susceptibility, fatigue, and self‐healing ability) of RAP mixtures. Among them, adding BF shows the greatest improvement in high‐temperature stability, fatigue resistance, and self‐healing ability of RAP mixtures. LF is found to significantly enhance low‐temperature properties, and PF can greatly improve the resistance to moisture damage of RAP mixtures. For high percentage of RAP using on sites, adding multiple additives may further enhance its durability.
Highlights
In recent years, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials have been widely used in asphalt pavements’ construction and maintenance because of their environment and economic benefits
Advances in Civil Engineering have shown an interest in using a higher percentage of RAP and carried out several studies to explore the performance of high RAP content mixtures
Mensching et al [2] and McDaniel et al [3] studied the performance of asphalt mixtures containing up to 40% of RAP. e results showed that the cracking resistance, including fatigue cracking and low-temperature cracking, and moisture susceptibility, reduced with an increasing RAP percentage
Summary
In recent years, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) materials have been widely used in asphalt pavements’ construction and maintenance because of their environment and economic benefits (i.e., due to materials saving). Many researchers showed that fibers could improve the low-temperature performance and fatigue life of virgin asphalt mixtures [9, 10]. E results showed that the tensile strength and fatigue life of basalt fiber-modified asphalt binders were significantly improved. Zhao [15] found that the resistance to low-temperature crack of asphalt mixtures was improved with the addition of basalt fibers. Many studies had shown that fibers could improve the performance of virgin asphalt mixtures. There is a gap in the research regarding how to use additives in asphalt mixtures with a high RAP percentage to achieve satisfactory performance levels and, how to conduct laboratory testing to evaluate their cracking performance (in terms of fatigue cracking and low-temperature cracking). Different fibers were selected to analyze their impacts on the performance of virgin binders and RAP mixtures. e results of this study could provide important implications on the use of high-percentage RAP in engineering practices
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